After injury, Beyer reinvents himself

By Blake Hurtik :
June 11, 2013
: Updated: June 11, 2013 10:55pm

Reagan's Matt Beyer in 2013 photo from Facebook. A 6-6, 295 pound offensive lineman committed to Oklahoma, but an injury ended that relationship. He has now lost 80 pounds and plans to run a marathon in fall.

Photo By Courtesy photo

This photo from Facebook shows ex-Reagan lineman Matt Beyer, who has dropped from 295 pounds to 215 since his career ended.

The night Matt Beyer's football career ended last September, he weighed 295 pounds.

The day he walked across the stage at Reagan High School's graduation last week, he weighed 215.

Beyer could guess what many in the crowd were thinking: “That's the same kid who was going to play left tackle for the Oklahoma Sooners?”

He's had to re-introduce himself to many people lately. Forced to give up his dream of playing college football because of a spinal cord condition and the threat of paralysis, Beyer went about re-inventing himself.

Meet Matt Beyer 2.0.

“I get a lot of shocked looks from people that haven't seen me in a while,” said Beyer, who now boasts a lean 6-foot-6 frame. “I get a lot of 'wows.'”

That's an understandable reaction. Beyer has dropped 80 pounds since January thanks to a relentless workout regimen and a healthy diet.

He hasn't just shed pounds. Beyer shed his identity as a football player.

“After I got hurt, I said, 'Now what?'” Beyer said. “You know, I'm not playing left tackle for OU anymore. I don't need to be 6-6, 295.

“So I got to work.”

Beyer played his last down against O'Connor on Sept. 7. Twice during the game, he lost feeling in his extremities after his neck snapped back, putting pressure on his already bruised spinal cord.

“I was a quadriplegic for a couple of seconds before (feeling) would come back,” Beyer said. “I'd try to move and couldn't.”

The injury cost him his spot at OU, which chose not to honor its scholarship offer. In the span of a few weeks, Beyer's future was entirely changed.

“It was a big blow to all of us,” Reagan coach David Wetzel said. “It was all a blur for me, it happened so fast.”

To that point in his life, Beyer had always been known as the big football player. After moving from Minnesota to San Antonio before his freshman year, Beyer stepped onto campus at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds.

His teammates affectionately called him “Fat Beyer” or “Big Beyer.”

Once a week, he and fellow lineman Sterling Korona, who stands 6-8 and tips the scales at 260, would polish off triple cheeseburgers with chili and fries at Big'z Burger Joint.

“Now you're lucky if you'll get him to eat one burger,” said Korona, who signed to play football at Duke.

As a lineman, Beyer's goal had been to pack on as much muscle and weight as possible. Now, it's just the opposite.

Since January, he has stuck to a strict diet and workout regimen. Beyer said he hasn't gone a day this year without working out, often exercising three times a day.

A typical day starts with a 6 a.m. session of Insanity, an intense at-home DVD workout that requires no weights, followed by an afternoon weight-lifting workout at Reagan, and capped off with a long swim or run in the evening.

He started with a target of 240 pounds. He reached it in March, so he kept going. He can now swim 2,400 meters — he was on the swim team in middle school — and run six miles at a sub-eight minute pace without stopping.

“The biggest thing was that I just wanted to be healthy,” Beyer said. “And it's helped me get past what football was to me.”

That drive and motivation are products of an uncommon maturity for his age. He got into shape while maintaining a 101 GPA (on a 100-point scale) and working 20-30 hours a week at Lifetime Fitness.

“He doesn't strike you as an 18-year-old kid,” Wetzel said. “He's like talking to a 30-year-old.”

Beyer is already planning like an adult. He'll major in engineering at Texas A&M, and he has some more physical goals on the horizon: a marathon by the end of the year, a triathlon by the time he graduates college, an Ironman after that.

“I want to see if I can do it or not,” Beyer said. “It keeps me going. I don't know what it is. I just want to do it.”

If the last six months have been any indication, there's no doubt he can.